QUALITY OF HOLDING A SHOT STEADY & SHOOTING MATERIAL APPROPRIATE TO THE TASK SET
The opening shots of the student knocking on the door, door opening and walking across the room all taken from a one hundred and eighty degree angle were all fairly stead. But the reverse shots over the shoulder were shaky – this could have been fixed by more careful, steady holding of the camera or the use of a tripod. The preliminary task was to have three main things in it; a shot of the door from the outside opening, a continuity shot of the door opening, the one hundred and eighty degree angle used as the person walks across the room and reverse shots of a conversation between at least two people.
The material shot was entirely suitable to the task set, as the student knocked on the door, was shot opening the door from both sides, walking across the room and sitting to have a talk with her teacher in detention.
QUALITY OF THE FRAMING SHOTS
The opening of the film has the student centre frame, putting her at the centre of the audience’s attention. In the second reverse shot where the teacher is speaking back to the student, the student’s shoulder has been cut out of the frame which defeats the purpose of it being an over the shoulder shot. More care should be taken next time to include the shoulder.
QUALITY OF EDITING SO THAT THE MEANING IS APPARENT TO THE VIEWER
Every effort was taken in editing to make the meaning of the storyline in the video clear to the watcher. A continuity shot was taken of the door being opened from both sides, as the student opened the door and then the door seen opening from within the classroom. This made it clear that she was opening and entering the classroom.
A tilting shot was taken of the student walking across the room slowly looking downhearted; the pacing showed that she had come unwillingly. Instead of focusing purely on one person which wouldn’t make any sense, reverse cuts were made from student to teacher and back again showing the person only as they spoke, but including the over the shoulder shots so it was clear that they were talking to each other and having a one on one conversation.
QUALITY OF USING SOUND WITH IMAGES AND EDITING APPROPRIATELY FOR THE TASK SET
No music was used to heighten the effect of it being a real-life situation and so make the everyday feel even more dramatic when the audience is only focusing on the conversation intensely, particularly on the student when she suddenly snaps at the teacher.
The actors were made sure to speak clearly, but the video could have been improved by reshooting and having them speak louder or increasing confidence in their lines by either having memorized it completely without the script or improvising. Another option was having the sound dubbed in, but this would have taken out the background noise of computer machines whirring and so the decision was made to leave it in.
QUALITY OF POSITIONING AND MOVEMENTS OF ACTORS
The student was positioned on the outside of the door, knocking and waiting for the teacher’s permission instead of moving straight in – this shows that she is secondary to the teacher and has little power especially in comparison to him. The teacher was positioned at his desk throughout – she is in his room, on his turf. Therefore you expect that she is going to have to play by his rules but she defies this expectation and plays up to being the troublemaking student that she is by her outburst: “You callin’ me a liar?!”
The students movements are slow, and she takes her time walking across and slumps a little in her seat – she is clearly very reluctant to be here, although she did come.
The teacher’s movements are careful, much more measured and you can see that he is trying to keep patient – her loudness emphasizes how reasonable he seems by keeping his voice lowered.
OTHER POINTS OF EVALUATION (E.G. EQUIPMENT)
We used a MiniDV camcorder with 8mm tap. The overall quality of our video was not very high definition, however this may not be completely down to the camcorder. It was the only one available for use, and part of it was down to the unsteady hand of my holding the camera as well as being new to editing videos which with more practice ways of fixing quality, sharpening, brightness and contrast could have been used.
The software iMovie was used as we are new to editing and using Mac computers, and we quickly got the hang of how to make cuts after practice – after mastering how to use iMovie, perhaps a better program like Final Cut Pro or Sony Vegas could be used as they have more filters, and more ways to customize the editing of the film.
QUALITY OF SELECTING MISE-EN-SCENE
The setting selected was appropriate as in the script it was written that a student was having a detention with her teacher. A classroom was used within a real school, and the sound apart from the conversation was quiet so as to be believable that the detention was taking place after school. Natural lighting was used, daylight from the windows brightening the room. Props were sheets of paper being shuffled on the teacher’s desk that he appeared to be marking, the desk itself, the chair opposite in which the student. The teacher also wore glasses to emphasize the air of intelligence and wisdom.
QUALITY OF SUMMARY
What Went Well: The match on cut action, reverse shots and one hundred and eighty degree angle was all done well. The continuity shot was done right and the timing was done well enough so it did feel as if we watched the student open the door in real life, it was a smooth transition from the door opening on one side to the door opening on the other. Props were used believably, with the classic of glasses used for the teacher who authentically shuffled around his papers that he was grading, the school ID around the student’s neck and the real life school setting of the classroom.
Future Improvements:
* Practice editing with iMovie and if capable try moving on to Final Cut Pro for a wider variety of transitions, filters and manipulation of sound elements.
* Borrow a tripod to ensure that the camera is not shaky and possibly lights to use with camera if needed to brighten the scenes
* Experiment more with music and see if an instrumental piece could be used to subtle effect.
QUALITY OF GROUP PLANNING, ORGANISATION, MEETING TARGETS AND GROUP DYNAMICS
Different tasks were assigned to different people, and everyone took responsibility for themselves in getting their jobs done although finishing touches were a group effort. We all checked our free periods and worked out times where we could all meet up, and used that time effectively. We all also managed to meet the targets of the preliminary task, of a continuity shot of the door opening and closing as well as well as the reverse shots with the teacher and student characters talking to one another. Everybody was very co-operative and worked well together, and were professional as they put in extra time of their own into helping get this task done e.g. spending lunch time and free periods filming and editing, not just in media class.
